Rumblings xtra: Items that didn't make print edition

Whether former Buckeye Mike Adams starts at right tackle or left for the Pittsburgh Steelers next season will apparently be determined by the team's off-season practice sessions.

Whether former Buckeye Mike Adams starts at right tackle or left for the Pittsburgh Steelers next season will apparently be determined by the team's off-season practice sessions. The team's coaches have said that either Adams or Marcus Gilbert will start a left tackle, depending on how they fare in workouts, and the other will go to the right side.

At his pre-draft press conference, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said "I think one of the things that we learned through the trials of the 2012 season is that both of those young men are capable of playing both spots."

The Steelers aren't expected to re-sign Max Starks, who started at left tackle last season.

Michigan is going to general admission seating for students next season to try to solve a no-show problem that has plagued it, especially during football games with early starts. Jordan Maleh, the athletic department's director of digital marketing, told Mlive.com that Michigan averaged 5,434 student no-shows per game in 2012, out of 21,770 season tickets sold. Chief marketing officer Hunter Lochmann told the website that there was a 50-percent no-show rate for opening kickoffs.

Actor John C. McGinley, who plays the role of sportscaster Red Barber in the new movie 42 about Jackie Robinson, received hands-on training as a sportscaster at WSLN, Ohio Wesleyan's campus radio station, in 1978. Byron Pitts, who recently left CBS' 60 Minutes to become an ABC news anchor, also worked on WSLN at that time.

McGinley spent a year at OWU before transferring to Syracuse, where he enrolled in its renowned broadcasting school. From there, he went to acting school at NYU and later joined Oliver Stone's stable of character actors. He is best known for roles in Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, The Rock and the TV show Scrubs.

Also featured in 42is Branch Rickey, an Ohio Wesleyan graduate who coached the baseball team there in 1907-08 before integrating major league baseball by signing Robinson to a contract in 1947. Rickey is played by Harrison Ford in the movie.

As the NFL conducted the first round of its draft last night, Ohio State's Zach Boren had no reason to be on the edge of his seat. If he gets picked, it probably won't be until Saturday when the last four rounds of the seven-round affair are held and likely later that day than sooner.

Boren presented the classic conundrum for NFL talent evaluators. As a fullback during most of his four seasons, he blocked with ferocity and caught almost every pass thrown his way, traits which would suit any team looking for both pass protection and an outlet, check-down receiver. He also stands 5-feet-11.

Then there was his switch to linebacker in the midst of the past season when the OSU defense was in turmoil, in dire need of a calming presence in the middle. He drew on his upbringing as the second son of former Michigan linebacker Mike Boren and as an elite high school linebacker at Pickerington Central, and delivered that stability with leadership and playmaking aplomb. But then, he barely cracked 5 seconds in the 40-yard dash during pre-draft testing.

Boren has proven he is a football player, but NFL teams are likely to get caught up in his measureables. But some believe he could be a special teams presence in the league for years once he gets the chance.

The Steelers cut James Harrison after he refused to take a pay cut. But in a conference call with Bengals news media this week, the veteran linebacker denied that he held any hard feelings toward the team, which Cincinnati plays in its home opener on Monday, Sept. 16.

"I don't have a chip on my shoulder against the Steelers. I don't hate the Steelers. All the things that they're saying, the media is blowing it up to be," Harrison said. "Am I disappointed? Yeah, I'm disappointed. But when the negotiations first started, I basically knew the situation was going to be what it was going to be. My compromise wasn't going to come to theirs and theirs wasn't going to come to mine, which made business sense for them. They did what they did, and what made business sense for me, I did what I did, so we had a parting of the ways. I wish them the best except for when we play, and of course I'm assuming they wish me the best except when we play them."